Hiring your first marketer?
I help you choose the person, then we work together to pass on what you know and start your first project.
The job description says “own marketing”. Lovely. Does that mean interviewing customers, rebuilding the website, running ads, or all of it by Friday?
We work out what your business needs first. I help you choose someone for that work, then stay involved while you and your marketer get started.
Agree the role before assessing the people. I review shortlisted work, join interviews and show you why I’d recommend one candidate over another.
Role brief · Candidate assessment if needed
Already hired? We start with the handover, agree the first project and work on it together.
You’re already making a serious investment. Another person needs to earn their place.
I help you work out what the job needs, examine the candidates’ work and compare what they can actually do. Once your marketer joins, I work with you both on the handover and first project.
I do the agreed research, writing and reviews myself. You can see exactly which work my fee pays for.
They should ask good questions. They still won’t know why your best customer nearly walked away, which offer you quietly stopped selling, or what you learned from the last failed campaign.
That knowledge needs to reach them. Then they need room to do something with it.
You’ll need to explain the business and make decisions. I turn that input into briefs, research and copy we can work on together.
The point is to give your marketer something they can use the next time, too.
Start with a role brief, a draft with my feedback, or a campaign example. I’ve included the reasoning, so you can decide whether you’d want me asking these questions in your business.
Your first assignment is to strengthen the message and proof.
A clearer role brief, the criteria I’d use in interviews and a candidate answer worth questioning.
Read the role reviewBring the report
together.
Be ready to explain
the number.
The brief, my feedback and the revised copy, including the product example I’d put in front of buyers.
See the work developStill chasing
the files
you need
to start?
An ad and a client request built around a familiar problem: chasing the files you need to start work.
See the ad & client requestHiring is one point where marketing gets complicated. So is explaining why a buyer should choose you when your founder, salesperson and marketer all give a different answer.
I work with the same small B2B teams on both. We can choose your marketer and get them started, work out your positioning with buyers in the conversation, or investigate one customer question that’s holding up a decision.
Agree the role before assessing the people. I review shortlisted work, join interviews and show you why I’d recommend one candidate over another. Then we get into the handover and first project, with twelve weeks of support after your marketer starts.
Get help with your first hireYou and your team need an answer you can use and back up. I investigate how buyers see the offer, work through what to lead with and what to leave out, and turn those decisions into a positioning brief and message guide. Add one website or sales application if you want me to carry it into the work.
Work out your positioningYou and your marketer need to make a decision. Before another round of opinions, let’s hear from buyers. Six interviews about one agreed question, the evidence behind the findings, and recommendations for your next move.
Work through a customer questionOne priority for me to get into while you recruit. Research, messaging and copy, plus a handover for the person who takes it on next. We start with two months and agree what those days need to produce.
Get work moving while you hireYou should be able to work out whether this is in budget before booking a call. Here are the guide prices. The full pricing page spells out the work, timing and limits.
The fee covers the hiring support and twelve weeks of work with you and your marketer on one agreed project.
Already chosen your marketer? We can start from there. We’ll agree the scope and fee around the work you need.
We’re preparing to hire.
€9,000–€12,000total engagement
Define the role and, if needed, assess your shortlist. Then begin the handover and first project with your marketer.
See the scopeResearch, positioning and a message guide for your team. Add one website or sales application if you need it.
Six buyer interviews to help you and your marketer make one decision.
One priority for me to take on while you find the person who’ll take it forward.
Ranges depend on the evidence available and the complexity of the agreed work. Prices exclude VAT where applicable, recruitment, media and external production costs. No placement fee.
Inclusions, timing & payment terms
Hello, I’m Marina.
I’ve worked in marketing since 2009, including as Head of Marketing from 2021 to 2025. And yes, I’ve been the first marketing hire a few times.
I know what it’s like to arrive with plenty of ideas and still be missing the detail that makes any of them useful. I’ve also had to decide what gets done when there’s more work than people. There usually is.
Good Skeptic brings that experience to your hire and your marketing. You work with me directly, and I get into the research and writing myself. I like the work. The questions, the slightly painful first draft, the detail that finally makes it click.
More about meNo. We can start with the handover and the first project. Tell me what you’ve already done and where the work is getting stuck; I’ll price the help you still need. If it’s one specific customer or copy problem, a fixed project may be enough.
Then let’s look at the website. If the offer and message are already clear, I can quote for the copy you need. If the team is still debating who it’s for or why buyers should care, customer-led positioning helps us settle those choices; its website application includes three core pages. We’ll use the research you already have and agree what still needs doing.
If you know exactly who to hire, can judge their work and have time to get them started, you may not need me. And if what you need is someone running every marketing channel day to day, these engagements won’t cover it. I work with founder-led B2B companies that already have customers and need experienced help with the next hire or a defined piece of marketing.
I can commit to the work, the deliverables and how we’ll review them. I can’t promise a revenue result. That depends on your offer, who sees the work, the sales process and what happens after the enquiry. We’ll agree what progress to look for and review the results we can actually see.
Tell me about the hire, the project or the bit you keep getting pulled back into. We’ll start there.
Talk to MarinaA 30-minute conversation with me.